George Elliott Clarke to serve as parliamentary poet laureate

New Canadian parliamentary poet laureate George Elliott Clarke (CAMELIA LINTA)

Esteemed Nova Scotia writer George Elliott Clarke has been named Canada’s new parliamentary poet laureate.

Clarke, who was born in 1960 in Windsor, near the Black Loyalist community of Three Mile Plains, is revered for his work as a poet and playwright and has published dozens of works since the 1980s.

In a news release issued Tuesday by the Library of Parliament, Clarke called the appointment a “transcendent, national recognition of the vitality of our official languages and doubly powerful poetries, informed by two great literary traditions.”

Clarke was appointed by Senate Speaker George Furey and Geoff Regan, Speaker of the House of Commons, on the recommendation of a selection committee.

Regan called Clarke’s talent as a poet, playwright and literary critic undeniable.

“Clarke is a highly regarded Canadian poet. … He has a great history of telling the story of the African-Canadian experience, particularly in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I know people will be delighted with this choice,” Regan told The Chronicle Herald.

“One of the things that a poet does is call people to think about what they’re doing and to challenge them, and I think that’s a good thing at all times for those of us that work in Parliament.”

Clarke has received numerous awards and accolades for his writing, including the Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement, the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award.

He has been appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada, and has received eight honorary doctorates.

A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Dalhousie University and Queen’s University, Clarke is the inaugural E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto and recently completed a three-year term as Toronto’s poet laureate.

He is also a regular columnist for The Chronicle Herald.

Clarke, who describes himself as a seventh-generation Canadian of African-American and Mi’kmaq Amerindian heritage, is Canada’s seventh parliamentary poet laureate.

He succeeds Michel Pleau, whose two-year term ended Dec. 31.

The position was created in 2001 to honour Canada’s accomplished poets and highlight poetry’s role in society.

Clarke’s duties will include composing poetry, sponsoring readings and advising the parliamentary librarian.